Home Inspector in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI

Grosse Pointe Farms is two housing markets inside one city. Along Lake Shore and Provencal are the pre-war Tudor, Georgian, and Colonial estates that give the Pointes their reputation; about 36 percent of the Farms predates 1940. Inland, between Ridge and Mack, are the 1940s and 1950s brick colonials and ranches that make up half the city. The median home was built in 1946, and 97 percent of homes are owner-occupied, the highest share of any Pointe.

Those two halves fail differently. A 1928 house on Provencal hands me slate, copper, plaster, a boiler that may or may not still be connected, and wiring from four decades. A 1952 colonial off Kerby hands me galvanized supply lines, a cast-iron stack, an original panel, and a roof and windows on their second replacement. I inspect each house as what it is, not from one checklist.

The Farms also runs its own water plant on Lake St. Clair and has a sewer system that is separated on the lake side and still combined inland, which is why the June 2021 backups hit the Inland District hardest. A current Certificate of Occupancy is required to sell or rent here. None of that replaces a home inspection, and I explain below what each one tells you.

Pre-1940 estates and village homes near the lake (about 36%)

The Lakeside District, Provencal Road, and the streets around the Hill hold the Tudors, Georgians, and Colonials the Farms is known for, from bungalows up to mansions. Homes from this era commonly have slate or tile roofs, steam or hot-water boilers, plaster and lath, knob-and-tube or cloth-insulated remnants behind newer circuits, galvanized supply, clay laterals, stone or brick foundations, and multiple unlined chimney flues. I fly the roof, run the boiler through a full cycle if it is still in service, open every panel and subpanel, photograph each foundation wall, and put the thermal camera on plaster ceilings under bathrooms and valleys.

1940s brick colonials and Cape Cods (about 22%)

The first wave of inland building filled the blocks toward Ridge and Moross. Homes from this era commonly have 60-amp fuse panels or the earliest breaker panels, galvanized plumbing near the end of its life, block foundations, ductwork sized for a long-gone furnace, and asbestos in floor tile, duct wrap, or pipe insulation. Many have a finished attic or a later dormer. I check whether the panel was upgraded to carry what the house has become, get the pole camera into the attic to look at dormer framing and ventilation, and run several fixtures at once to find the pressure drop galvanized pipe produces.

1950s brick colonials and ranches between Ridge and Mack (about 28%)

This is the Inland District, and it is where the Farms has its combined sewers and where the 2021 backups concentrated. Homes from this era commonly have cast-iron drain stacks, galvanized supply on its last years, original or second-generation panels, a roof on its second or third layer, and vinyl replacement windows of mixed quality. In the basement I look for a backwater valve and whether it works, a sump pit and its discharge, water lines on the walls and furnace legs, and anything dated 2021 or 2022 with nothing on the permit record. Above grade I check the roof deck from the attic for prior leaks and the seam where any rear addition meets the original brick.

1960s to today: the small remainder and the teardown rebuilds (about 14%)

Fewer than 4 percent of Farms homes were built in the 1960s, but those that were fall inside the 1965 to 1973 aluminum branch-circuit wiring window, and I identify aluminum at the panel and receptacles. The 1970s through 1990s added about 8 percent, and anything from 1978 to 1995 gets checked for gray polybutylene supply piping. New construction here is a teardown or a gut renovation on an existing lot. Homes from this era commonly have complex roofs, multiple HVAC zones, and high-efficiency furnace venting mistakes, and they sit on the original water service and lateral unless the permit says otherwise.

On the EPA map Wayne County is Zone 3, the lowest radon category; on EGLE’s test-result map, 17 percent of Wayne County tests still land at or above the 4.0 pCi/L action level. Neither is a prediction for one house. Stone and brick foundations on the lakeside estates and block foundations inland both offer more entry points than a poured wall. A 48-hour continuous-monitor test placed in the lowest livable level costs $175 and runs inside your inspection window.